For Those New to the Wonderful World of Golf Wagering

Matchups are hypothetical head-to-head matches between two players who are competing in the same tournament. They are sometimes referred to as match bets or 72-hole match bets to emphasise that they are matches for the duration of the whole event, rather than individual rounds (18-hole match bets). The winner is the player who finishes higher up the leaderboard. To cover situations in which a player withdraws or is disqualified, the Vegas rules state that the winner will be the player who has played the same number of holes and if these are equal, then the winner is the player with the lowest score. Thus a player who makes the cut, but is disqualified over the weekend will beat a player who missed the cut.

What if the players tie?

In this situation there are different rules across different types of book. With the North American books, if the players tie, then the matchup is graded as a push. This means that the bet is void and the stakes are turned.

There is one exception to these general rules: Intertops. Even though they do not offer the tie as a separate bet, they do not grade a tied matchup as a push or a dead-heat. They determine the winner to be the player with the lowest final round score and if still tied, the player with the lowest penultimate round score and so on. Only if the two players have the same score in every round, would the matchup be declared a push.